Euractiv: Czech Minister Wants to Guarantee the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

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A constitutional amendment would enable Czechs to acquire and possess a gun for security purposes. This is a partial response to the proposed EU Firearms Directive.

Via Euractiv:

The right to be armed could be included in the Czech constitution. This controversial proposal was discussed by the Czech government this week, with the proposed EU Firearms Directive being mentioned frequently in the debate.

The amendment was backed by the Social Democrats, the main coalition party. The position of other coalition members was not so favourable. ANO 2011, which is currently leading in the polls, was the strongest opponent.

The government has not reached any conclusion on the matter. However, the author of the proposal – Interior Minister Milan Chovanec – perceives this as a positive sign.

Now it is time for the Czech parliament to decide. In order to pass, the amendment would have to get the support of at least three fifths of deputies and three fifths of senators. Chovanec hopes that the act will be approved before the parliamentary elections in October.

“I think that we have very good negotiating position to get 120 votes needed to pass in Chamber of Deputies,” Chovanec said.

According to Martin Plíšek from opposition TOP 09 party, the proposal is useless. “It is pure pre-election populism, because there is no need to set the right to possession of weapon by a constitutional law.”